Planned Parenthood, targeted by Republicans, endorses Hillary Clinton for president

Planned Parenthood has entered the 2016 campaign for the White House, backing ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with its first-ever primary season endorsement.

The support will be made formal at a Sunday rally staged by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Manchester, New Hampshire, site of the nation’s first presidential primary and a state where Clinton has been lagging behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood: “Let’s be clear — reproductive rights and health are on the ballot in 2016.”

It’s an endorsement decided just a day after the U.S. House of Representatives passed and sent to President Obama’s desk a bill that would deny federal support to Planned Parenthood clinics. The organization has used federal dollars for health services (e.g. breast cancer screenings) not related to abortion.

“Let’s be clear — reproductive rights and health are on the ballot in 2016,” said Cecile Richards, president/CEO of Planned Parenthood. “It is unthinkable that our daughters and granddaughters would have fewer rights than my generation did, yet every single GOP candidate would erase decades of progress for women — pledging to cut access to Planned Parenthood, ban safe legal abortion and block health insurance for birth control.

“Health care for a generation is at stake.”

Clinton was endorsed earlier this week by NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Issues of reproductive rights and women’s health coverage have become rapidly polarized in the past decade. Republican-controlled legislatures in 14 states, most notably Texas, have passed laws designed to make it difficult, or impossible in certain areas, to operate women’s health clinics that provide abortion services. Once divided, Democrats have become near down-the-line defenders of reproductive rights: 162 in Congress have signed onto an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out Texas’ restrictive statute.

It wasn’t always so. As a Republican congressman from Texas, future President George H.W. Bush was such an enthusiastic supporter of birth control that House colleagues gave him the nickname “Rubbers.” Republican legislators led the effort that legalized abortion in Washington back in 1970.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., continued to denounce Planned Parenthood even after Pullman clinic in her district was destroyed by arson fire.

Planned Parenthood has seen violence. A rampage at its Colorado Springs clinic in November left three persons dead. An arson fire on Sept. 4 destroyed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pullman that provides a variety of health services to the Washington State University and University of Idaho communities.

Eastern Washington politicians have treated Planned Parenthood to incendiary rhetoric. State Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, used a rally to liken PP’s activities to those of Dr. Josef Mengele, the “angel of death” at Auschwitz during World War II.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., a member of the House Republican leadership, continued to deliver tweets verging on hate speech, even after the Pullman arson fire. She has denounced PP for (unspecified) “horrendous acts” and (unspecified) “unethical and illegal practices.”

“What kind of a country are we if we think @PPFA’s actions are acceptable?” McMorris Rodgers asked in a tweet after the arson fire.

The Planned Parenthood endorsement is likely to benefit Clinton in New Hampshire.

Elsewhere in such states as Washington, however, Clinton has largely conducted her campaign at expensive fundraisers and has not appeared at public forums on such issues as women’s health care.